Is this too good to be true?

creditboy

The ONLY reason they are offering you a 'good deal' is so you cough up your £800. If they were offering you a below market value deal then your less likely to pay out your £800. There business is to scam and ofFering a bad deal isnt what there about.

If they were legit then they wouldnt be taking money up front and take a cut from the sale price.


STAY WELL CLEAR

RobertoMoir

shasbat wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies. Since I started the thread the company phoned me again and I told them all of my concerns. They insist they are a legitimate company and that they will put in writing that if the transactions does not go through for a reason at their end then I will get a full refund. Also said that if i paid by credit card I would be covered with that too.

There website address is firstdirectinvestments.com
They said that although they have only traded in England for 6 months they have been trading in other countries for over 6 years. The guy who set it up is called John Edward Turner.....

You couldn't really make all this up, probably is a scam....

Still would appreciate more advice... As the deal is really good for me.

Of course they told you they're legitimate. They would say that, wouldn't they?

Whether they are legit or not, what else could they say? If they are legit they'll say they are because they are, and if they are scammers they'll say they are legit because they are scammers and scammers lie. Without independent verification, that doesn't real move things forward.

Lets go back to the central part of this: If they are buying from you then the normal procedure is that they give you money, not the other way around. Why are alarm bells not ringing?

creditboy

Lets go back to the central part of this: If they are buying from you then the normal procedure is that they give you money, not the other way around. Why are alarm bells not ringing?[/QUOTE]

Alarm bells are ringing, hense the OP :T

Gwhiz

There's one born every day!! That's what scammers rely on!

Hailstorm

The valuation fee at £99 should set alarm bells ringing.

The law states that there is additional protection on credit card transactions of £100 or more. If any of these transactions turn out to be fraud the scammers would be attracting unnecessary attention to themselves.

If something looks potentially dodgy a price just under £100 should be another warning sign.

TTMCMschine

Have you contacted trading standards?

zzzLazyDaisy

OMG.... reading this thread I just realised (about 15 years too late!!!) how close I came to falling for the same scam!

It was 1993 and a flat housing market following the last crash. I was selling my house through a local estate agent, and for wider coverage I also placed an ad in the Guardian (internet was not so widely available then, so it was fairly common to advertise in the qualities).

I had a call from a company who claimed to have a couple looking for a house in my area, and she thought they would be really interested. The woman said they would send someone out to value the property, which would cost me £x (can't remember how much).

I remember trying really hard to explain to her (in my innocence) that it had only recently been valued by three local estate agents, and we were marketing at a realistic price, so we already knew what price we wanted. She argued and even told me that they would probably value the house higher as these people were really keen. But I was happy with the price we were asking, and just couldn't understand why I needed yet another valuation, especially when she knew what price we wanted and had already said it was on the low side........ I kept trying to explain this to her....

.........and then she started shouting and being quite aggressive and she then hung up on me!

That's really the only reason I remember the conversation. I have always thought it was odd. But anyway not long after that we got a local buyer, and I didn't think any more about it.

I never realised it was a scam .......... until now... :rolleyes:

gizmo111

Convenient first post:eek:

prowla

You've already lost £99.
Don't make it £899.

david29dpo

Either tell them you didnt fall down with the last shower or knock the £800 off the price. If this is genuine (which it isnt) no one will mind.